The Socio-Cultural Environment

The importance of culture for international project operation is very vital.

International project management involves crossing national boundaries, which in turn involves facing a different socio-cultural environment. Although the domain of a culture is not limited by national boundaries; for simplicity and practicality I will use national boundaries as the basis of discussing socio-cultural challenges (Fatihi, 1996).

Culture as a concept is difficult to define (Holleson, 2001). However, Hofteede’s definition is perhaps the best known to management scholars.

Culture is a collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another (Hofsteede, 1980). …culture, in this sense, includes system of values; and values are among building blocks of culture (Holleson, 2001).

Managerial concepts such as motivation, superior – subordinate relationships, authority, leadership and control are rooted in cultural values and norms (Fatihi, 1996). The meaning attached to and the application of these concepts varies from one culture to another (Fatihi, 1996). Hofstede (2004) says for those who work in international endeavors, it is sometimes amazing how different people in other cultures behave. We tend to have a human instinct that 'deep inside' all people are the same - but they are not. Therefore, if we go into another country and make decisions based on how we operate in our own home country - the chances are we'll make some very bad decisions (Hofstede, 2004).

Holleson (2001) mentions classifying cultures on dimensions has proven to be most effective constructive method as it helps in vocalizing and labeling cultural differences and similarities. In this subtopic the Hofteed’s dimensions (adopted from Hofstede, 2004) of cultures is used to discuss the challenges international project operations face due to their operation in a different socio cultural environment.

Differences in power orientation could be mentioned as the first source of ambiguity and then source of unexpected happenings, while running a project in a different socio-cultural environment. "Power distance is the extent to which less

powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally." (Hofstede page 262). Power distance describes also the extent to which employees accept that superiors have more power than they have. Furthermore that opinions and decisions are right because of the higher position some has. In countries with high power distance employees are too afraid to express their doubts and disagreements with their autocratic and paternalistic bosses. The index for power distance describes the dependence of relationships in a country. This could have different implications for the project manager operating a different cultural environment where power distance index in the home country is significantly different from the host country.

The second category of cultural dimensions which might be the cause of confusion in a differing cultural environment is the difference in social orientation. That is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. Hofstede (2004) says on the individualist side we find societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after him/herself and his/her immediate family. On the collectivist side, we find societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents) which continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. This has implication like collectivistic cultures having a great emphasis on groups and thinks more in terms of "we". In addition harmony and loyalty within the project team and other local stakeholders is very important and should always be maintained and confrontation should be avoided.

Masculinity versus its opposite, femininity refers to the distribution of roles between the genders which is another fundamental issue for any society to which

a range of solutions are found. This dimension indicates the extent to which quality of life" (Source: Hofstede 2004, page 262). "Femininity stands for a society where gender roles overlap: both men and women are supposed to be modest, tender and concerned with the quality of life." (Hofstede, page 261) The Masculinity and Femininity dimension describes how cultures differentiate on not between gender roles. Masculine cultures tend to be ambitious and need to excel.

Members of these cultures have a tendency to polarize and consider big and fast to be beautiful. In workplaces employees emphasize their work to a great extent (live in order to work) and they admire achievers who accomplished their tasks.

Feminine cultures consider quality of life and helping others to be very important.

Working is basically to earn money which is necessary for living. In business as well as in private life they strive for consensus and develop sympathy for people who are in trouble. Small and slow are considered to be beautiful.

Uncertainty Avoidance Index deals with a society's tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity; it ultimately refers to man's search for Truth. It indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations. Unstructured situations are novel, unknown, surprising, and different from usual. Uncertainty avoiding cultures try to minimize the possibility of such situations by strict laws and rules, safety and security measures, and on the philosophical and religious level by a belief in absolute

Truth; 'there can only be one Truth and we have it'. People in uncertainty avoiding countries are also more emotional, and motivated by inner nervous energy. The opposite type, uncertainty accepting cultures, are more tolerant of opinions different from what they are used to; they try to have as few rules as possible, and on the philosophical and religious level they are relativist and allow many currents to flow side by side. People within these cultures are more phlegmatic and contemplative, and not expected by their environment to express emotions.

Long-Term Orientation is the fifth dimension of Hofstede. Values associated with long term orientation include; persistence, ordering relationships by status and observing this order, thrift and having a sense of shame. While values associated with Short term orientation include personal steadiness and stability, protecting your ‘face’, respect or tradition, reciprocation of greetings, favors, and gifts.

In addition to the above, Edward T. Hall (1960) introduced the concept of high and low context cultures as a way of understanding different cultural orientations (Hollenson, 2001). Low context culture is the one where the words used by the speaker explicitly convey his message to the listener (lecture note Gahmber, 2008).

In low context cultures the senders of the message encode their message, expecting that the receivers will accurately decode the words used to gain a good understanding of the intended message (Hollenson, 2001). While on the other side high-context cultures use and interpret more of the elements surrounding (Hollenson, 2001).